The following condensed transit updates are from the MARC Transportation Committee July meeting:

SmartMoves – Two phases underway: urban corridors (with a bi-state application for a TIGER stimulus grant) and commuter corridors; consultants have been selected for each. Phase 1 deadline of Sept. 12th and the second phase has no deadline at this time.

Transportation Outlook 2040 – Project solicitation for the long-range transportation plan is in progress. A high speed rail section will be added.

Unified Government Transit – UG Transit does not have funds to make it through the rest of the year (service cuts may occur in October); next year will also be difficult for funding.

KCATA – Service cuts implemented June 28; additional cuts may be needed.

Johnson County Transit – First phase of the Metcalf/Shawnee Mission Parkway BRT study (also a SmartMoves corridor) is near completion and phase 2 will start soon; action from the Kansas legislature is required in order to run the service in this corridor and the northern terminus has been determined to be the Plaza (instead of downtown, the terminus for most JO services today). Fifty-five new JO bus stop signs will be installed in downtown Kansas City (where none exist today) via an MOU (memorandum of understanding) with the KCATA.

The next meeting will be held at 10 a.m., Wednesday, Aug. 5 at MARC offices, 600 Broadway, in downtown Kansas City.

4 Comments so far

Joe Medley August 5th, 2009
8:40 am

I wish you would elaborate on the action needed from the Kansas legislature. Do they need to enable something with legislation? Or are they providing funding?

If you start looking at local issues, you inevitably find something that depends on a state government which may or may not be dominated by people who care about urban issues. They may or may not want the major cities of the area to succeed.

Right now at http://www.infrastructureusa.org, users are discussing transportation issues throughout the country. View new user-generated videos such as the transportation reform documentary “Retraining America.” Read expert commentary in the Infra Blog. Share Kansas City’s transportation issues today with citizens and policy makers who can make a difference.

The Kansas Legislature needs to pass a law allowing counties to form a regional transit district. It would then be up to the voters in each county to decide if they want to join the district. This is the setup that the Missouri General Assembly approved in 2007 for Jackson/Clay/Platte.

While the Kansas Legislature could certainly chip in some money, most plans assume that we would use a combination of local and federal funds.

Dave August 11th, 2009
11:58 am

so Johnson County Transit could operate with funding provided by the cities in the interim? isn’t this how parts of the JO’s network work today? olathe, K-10, shawnee. i guess i don’t see why that’s particularly less appealing than a new RTD, unless you want that entity to be the taxing authority.